


New Opportunities

by LMX



Series: Waltz AU [2]
Category: Leverage
Genre: AU, F/M, Multi, Role Reversal, backup from lj
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-21
Updated: 2016-01-21
Packaged: 2018-05-15 09:50:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5781301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LMX/pseuds/LMX
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One of IYS's lesser publicised investigators meets a guy in a bar in the week before Christmas. Things accelerate from there in ways totally unexpected (to him anyway)</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Opportunities

Times had to be bad when a man could be sat in a bar full of beautiful people all celebrating the last day of work before Christmas, and not look further than his own whiskey glass.

Eliot slumped a little lower with the realisation, knowing what a stereotypical hard-done-by man he was portraying and not caring enough to get up and walk home. Sometimes a man had earned the right to sit in public and mope.

"Wife, or job?"

If the sudden intrusion into his sulking hadn't come from quite so near his ear, Eliot wasn't sure he would have heard it. As it was, the man was well inside his personal space, a hand settling in the middle of his back and the other coming down on his forearm where it was resting on the bar.

Eliot studied that second hand blankly, aware that not so long ago he would have tried to tear that hand off. Working for IYS had him so sickeningly house trained.

"Job," he answered absently, pulling away and leaning back so that he could see the man stood behind his bar stool. Speaking of beautiful people...

"Ah," the guy nodded, laughter in his eyes. "In that case, I'm going to risk offering to buy you another drink."

"I'm..." Eliot thought about turning him down for a moment, about going home and getting enough sleep that what ever fool's errand IYS sent him on next wouldn't get him killed. "Sure." Misery always had loved company. And alcohol.

-

Two hours later and Nate - Eliot's new friend - had listened sympathetically to the trials of being an investigator for IYS, of working with James Sterling and of being the 'unnamed threat' of a company known for occasional heavy handedness against those who had stolen goods insured by them. A reputation that allowed them an impressive lead over their competitors.

Eliot was beginning to think that Nate had an ulterior motive. He was also incredibly drunk.

"I..." he started authoritatively, "Am very, very drunk."

Nate chuckled, leaning in closer. Eliot was vaguely aware that the man liked to push his personal space issues beyond what he would usually accept, but it wasn't rubbing him the same way it would normally. "Are you working tomorrow?" Nate only slurred very slightly (the bastard).

"Flight out to Germany. Some stolen... something." Eliot on the other hand, was slurring heavily.

"Sounds glamorous." Nate grinned, then looked away like he might have been hiding a blush.

Eliot snorted inelegantly. "I'm an attack-dog, Nate. Sterling points and I fetch, guard, kill..."

Nate patted vaguely at his shoulder. "When are you due back?"

Eliot had to think about that one. "In a few days?" he asked, vaguely. "We should do this again. You should talk next time. Talking ain't what I'm good at."

"I'd like that." Nate smiled and Eliot thought he might be falling in love with the laughter in his eyes. He missed laughter. How fucking pitiable was that?

"Next time we should go back to mine." Eliot grinned. "There's booze there, and the bed's cheaper."

Nate shook his head, his eyes still laughing. "I think I should get you into a taxi. You're going to miss your flight."

-

As it turned out, Eliot wasn't late for his flight, but it was pretty close, sprinting through the doors as his name was being called. So he didn't read the message on his phone until he landed in Berlin.

"Call me when you get back to the US. I want to hear more about this bed of yours." Which filled Eliot with an unfamiliar buzzy feeling, and the realisation that a lot more had been said the previous night than he remembered.

It had been a long time since he'd spent a night out with a friend like that, drinking and talking. He'd left a lot of friends behind when he'd left the army, and he'd not really made the effort to meet anyone after he'd moved to New York. He'd had plenty of one night stands and easy hook ups, and he'd thought that was enough at the time. The first hint of a real connection, though, showed up the live he'd not even realised he'd made.

He missed people. He especially missed people who wanted to talk to him before falling into bed. He wondered, as he got into a taxi and scraped together enough German to get him to the local IYS office, how heavily he'd been flirting if he'd been talking to Nate about his bed. The journey into the city was long enough to realise he was damned lucky Nate had been receptive and the he put his game face on and forced his mind back onto the job.

-

"I was looking forward to hearing from you." Nate's voice was warm and friendly on the other end of the phone line. After the last few days, Eliot felt like that was some kind of blessing.

"Hey Nate," he greeted. "Drinks tonight?"

There was a muffled sigh on the other end of the phone line. "I'm gonna have to pass."

"Oh?" Eliot asked, trying not to feel let down.

"My landlord has decided to fumigate my whole block. I've got to find a hotel for the night and with this kind of notice, this close to Christmas... God knows where I'm gonna end up."

"Shit, Nate, come on over," Eliot urged. "You're not staying in a hotel when you've got friends in the city with a spare room."

There were vague noises on Nate’s end, voices in the background. "I... Are you sure?"

Eliot chuckled. "Hell yes. Least I can do after what I put you through the other night."

"Eliot... My girlfriend, Sophie..." Nate trailed off.

Eliot felt his heart drop and pulled himself back together forcefully. That would teach him for jumping to conclusions. "The spare's a double, Nate. I've got the room. Come on over."

"She really wants to meet you, Eliot. But I was hoping we'd get to know each other better first..."

Grudging, but ever the good Southern boy, Eliot wasn’t going to take back his invitation. He could be a good host. "Nate. Just come over. I'll make dinner."

-

Nate's girlfriend was entirely not what Eliot was expecting. With Nate's promiscuous charm and scruffy looks, Eliot had expected a blond air-head who would smile absently through dinner and have noisy sex with Nate in his spare room all night. Sophie was beautiful, reserved and charming. Her smile was warm and she held his gaze as she shook his hand with a strong grip. His half-hearted attempt at dinner suddenly seemed entirely insufficient.

Sophie fit into the laughing teasing easy conversation seamlessly, and Eliot was beginning to think that this was just how people were over in Boston. It was with a fair few beers in him that Eliot said: "How can it be that I've known you both for... days, and I'm so easy around you?"

"It's a gift." Sophie laughed brightly, "Nate can pick out like minded people from across a room."

"We haven't been in LA long though," Nate added gently. "We're always glad to meet new people. New friends."

"Hell, me too." Eliot grinned. "I mean, I've been here, working in the same place, living in the same place, for nearly ten years. I couldn't name two people in the city I'd trust. Less that I'd care to talk to."

"Well, their loss." Sophie leant over the table to rest a hand on Eliot’s arm for a moment. "You're a hell of a chef, Eliot."

"Maybe one day, when IYS decide they're done with me. For now... this is what I've got." Eliot glanced at the briefcase by the door and groaned a little. "I've gotta turn in. That report's gotta be in tomorrow morning."

"Oh, is this your job at the..." Sophie seemed to stumble. "I've forgotten. Bank or something?" She laughed at her own drunkenness and slumped sideways into Nate's shoulder.

"Insurance," Eliot confirmed, glancing at Nate, not sure how much the other man had shared. Somehow his line of work didn't seem like suitable conversation around Sophie.

He stood a little unsteadily and Nate stood with him, pulling Sophie up behind him and setting aside her glass of wine as it started to tip.

Sophie pulled away from Nate and slinked across the room to stand close to Eliot, pressed against his side and examining him from head to toe. "I'm going to enjoy this," she whispered in his ear. Eliot frowned as Nate wandered over, feeling like he was being cornered. When Nate reached them, he wrapped a hand around the back of Eliot's neck and kissed him hard enough to leave his lips throbbing. Eliot pulled away, eyes going to Sophie, bracing for a slap. Her pupils were blown wide, and she took advantage of his momentary distraction to copy Nate's kiss, two hands - one of each of theirs - tangling in his hair.

"Goodnight, Eliot." She smiled and the two of them wandered together into the spare bedroom, leaving him breathless and hard and still more than a little drunk. Dazed, he went to bed.

-

Eliot knew that there were some things about his behaviour that gave away how not-right he was. For a start, he was in a job where he was paid to chase after crooks and beat the living hell out of them until they gave back what they had stolen or paid recompense. He knew he had a violent temper, and however many courses IYS sent him on and however many shrinks they had him terrorize, he only ever felt calm after he'd fought or fucked.

And then then there was the nightmares and the claustrophobia and the constant itch between his shoulder blades that came with the awareness that eventually the Army would decide that what he knew outweighed his potential usefulness should they decide to recall him, and have him quietly and unobtrusively killed. He should have left when he had a chance, whatever the money might have meant to his sister and Ashley, he should have left when the Army started claiming he didn't exist.

Now, though, there were two people sleeping in his spare room for the second night in a row and for all his quirks... It felt like it was old news to them, like they already knew everything he wouldn't ever be able to tell them and they could care about him anyway.

It was scary as hell.

Eliot jerked alert at a noise in the hall and sat up when he identified Nate in his doorway and then Sophie resting languorously at his side. Eliot swallowed hard. There hadn't been any repeat of the kiss the previous night, something he was now fairly sure was a product of too much good alcohol, but he couldn't say whether he was relieved or disappointed about that.

"You guys need something?" and he couldn't help the edge of growl, uncertainty putting him on edge.

"Need, no." Sophie was silhouetted by the street-light outside illuminating the hall as she lent in to kiss Nate's neck. "Want... perhaps."

She prowled into the room, the silk slip she was wearing moving across her thigh in a way that drew Eliot's gaze and held him entranced.

"Nate and I..." Sophie started, hesitating until Eliot wrenched his eyes up, flushing hot. She chuckled easily and shook her head. "You shouldn't be alone like this, Eliot. We're not going to let you hide away."

She sounded like Eliot's sister, and memories of her vague long-distance matchmaking attempts brought him up cold. "'Much as I appreciate..."

"No more talking." Nate was suddenly much closer than he had been, and damn Sophie for being so distracting. Eliot hid his startle in a clench of his hands in the sheets, turning to look at Nate once he was sure he was back under control and getting caught in the intensity in his eyes. He wanted to take a minute to appreciate every inch of him, shirtless and in shorts, but he couldn't get past those eyes.

"He's bossy," Sophie's voice was right in his ear and he did jump this time, startled breathless but somehow not striking out as he'd half expected himself to. "Control issues," Sophie continued.

"Sweetheart, you have no idea..." Eliot started, and then Nate lent over the bed and kissed him, Sophie's hands toying with the base of the T-shirt he'd worn to bed, mattress sinking as she knelt beside him.

Eliot's head was spinning. Drunk on it, he let himself be pulled back down onto the bed, his T-shirt following Sophie's slip to the floor and their non-reaction as all his scars were put on show just cemented that feeling of two people who knew him better than anyone had for nearly a decade.

It felt clumsy at first, too many limbs on the bed as Sophie arranged them all like dolls against each other, but even if this was new to him, Nate and Sophie carried him along, breathless and shaking and with noises he would deny later on, and so very much not alone.

-

Eliot asked them to move in with him on Christmas Eve. Their flat was dank and heartless and the thought of Sophie living there, let alone celebrating Christmas there, made Eliot's stomach turn. Sophie's teaching job paid well enough, and meant she was normally home by the time Eliot got in from the office on so called 'desk-days'. Nate's EMT control centre job meant he was often home at odd hours, sometimes working night shifts and sleeping through the day.

He'd never felt like he was doing 'good work' at IYS, even when what he was really doing was catching criminals and getting back insured merchandise, sometimes he couldn't help but respect the skill involved in what the criminals were doing. There was no skill in what he was doing, and any skill he might have shown, Sterling took credit for. The weasel.

He was finding himself more relaxed under Nate and Sophie's quiet care, but some nights, nights like this, he was glad of the punching bag set up in the back room, and of an intimate knowledge of a lot of very structured martial arts katas.

"If we'd have known, we would have come sooner." Sophie's voice was low and quiet, and Eliot already knew that he could pretend not to have noticed her and she wouldn't take offence. He rested against the punching bag for a second before turning around.

"You're such a sap," he grinned. "Nate and I met by chance, there's no way you'd have been able to find me faster."

"I think I'm quite justified," Sophie retorted. She shook her head, playful smile falling. "Eliot... This isn't just some fling for us. Things have been hard for you. You've been alone a long time. That's over now. We're here."

"I..." Eliot lent back against the punching bag, letting it swing a little. "I'm not always great company, Sophie."

"Well, I snore, and Nate gets really bossy in bed." She lent closer to add, sotto-voice, "When you get used to us, he'll probably want to show you some of the kinky stuff he's into."

Eliot grinned, stripping off his gloves and wiping his brow with the wrappings. "I'd like that."

Sophie picked up the towel and wandered over to him. "Good. Now that's decided, tell me about your horrible day."

He'd never felt so complete.


End file.
